The Next Set of Games
by The Kishin Sesshomaru-Kurai
Summary: Two friends find themselves thrown into the Reaper's Game, and are shocked when they learn the truth about where they are. Can they escape the Games intact? And just what does the Game Master have planned for them? Read and find out.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Okay, I have yet to play the World Ends With You, but from what I've read and researched, this might possibly work. Besides, Joshua is the only original Character who makes some degree of appearances on a regular basis. So, yeah. Alex is based on me, and Russ is based on my friend Remvis, so go check his page out. He only has two stories up on his page, but they're still good reads.**

**Chapter 1: Let the Games Begin!**

**(Day 1)**

Alex groaned as he laid on the bare concrete. All around him, people were just walking by him as though he wasn't there. Sitting up on the ground, the people still kept ignoring him. Looking at the buildings, he saw electronic signs and the likes. Being multilingual, he recognized them all being in Japanese, so he had a decent idea of what each one said and that he was somewhere in Japan. The large screen was advertising the brand Sheep Heavenly, a brand he was well aware of and had a livid hatred for. But the screen seemed rather familiar to him, like he'd seen pictures of it before.

Sticking his hand in the pocket of his camouflage sweatshirt, he felt something off. Pulling it out, he found a black pin with a weird white design to give it the appearance of a skull._Weird,_ he thought. Tossing it up real quick, he caught it in his hand and suddenly felt his head pounding. He heard dozens of voices pounding in his head. The thoughts of everyone near him were going through his head. _Aggh! Make it stop! _"Shut up," groaned the brown haired teen.

Almost like throwing a switch, the thoughts running through his head stopped and he could only hear his own thoughts. He looked at the pin again. _Really weird._ Taking another look at the object, he pinned it to his hoodie near the base of the right sleeve so it sat in his palm.

When he did, he saw a bunch of weird creatures coming towards him. They looked like frogs, but the back halves of their bodies were made of graffiti in the style of tribal designs. They were going through the crowd, literally going _through_ the people, some of those people even screamed when the frogs touched them.

Not knowing what else to do, Alex started running, hoping to outrun the frog creatures. A couple of minutes of running through the city and people, he managed to escape the frogs and could take a breather. As he caught his breath, he heard a familiar voice.

"Alex? Is that you?" Looking up, he saw a boy of the same age as him. His brown hair was tied back in a ponytail and went halfway down his back. He was wearing a black zip up hoodie and a pair of blue jeans. His glasses reflected a small amount of the sunlight. In one hand was the usable replica he had of a medieval sword.

Alex's grey-blue eyes widened at the sight of a familiar face. "Russ! What's going on? Where are we?"

He got a shrug. "Not sure," said his friend. "But, since we're both here, how about we work together?" He outstretched a hand to his friend. "Partners?"

Alex grinned as he took his friend's hand. "Partners." As he said that, the two saw a rush of blue lights fly down their arms and a matching glow from the two of them. Just as suddenly as the light show began, it was over. Alex looked at his hand in confusion. "Well that was unexpected."

"Yeah." Just then, their phones went off. Pulling the devices, the boys saw they had messages from a contact titled "Reapers". They got the same message: _Go to 104 in 60 minutes or face Erasure._ As they pocketed the devices, there was a distinct burning sensation in Alex's right palm. Looking at his hand, he saw a red timer counting down from 60:00 minutes, flashing each time it went down by a second.

The two shared a look. What was going on? Deciding to not find out what Erasure was, the two friends walked off towards the large building. As they did, Alex put his hands in his sweatshirt pockets and was confused to find even more pins in them. Looking at them, he saw one with a burst of fire, a series of lightning bolts, a soda can, and a large white hand. _What's with all the pins?_

"Alex, we've got trouble!" Looking around, he saw how right his friend was. Those frogs from before were surrounding them, and they had nowhere to go. "What do we do?" asked Russ.

Alex looked at the pins in his hand. "Russ," he said, "I've got a crazy idea. Do you have any weird pins in your pocket by any chance?"

"Yeah, why?"

The frogs got closer as he looked at his friend. "I think we can use them the same way I activated my weird skull pin and use them to fight."

"Are you crazy?!" shouted his glasses wearing friend.

"Possibly!" replied Alex before he gripped his fire pin. "Let's give this a try!" Focusing on the pin, he was rewarded when a fireball was launched at the frog in front of him. "Ah, yeah!"

Looking to his friend, he was shocked to find he was alone. "Russ! Where the hell are you?!"

_"I could ask you the same thing!"_ came his friend's voice like he was right there. _"I heard a frog scream and find you're gone!"_ Alex heard a yell followed by a slashing sound. He then noticed one of the frogs stagger as though it were struck by a sword.

"Russ, I think we're fighting the same enemies, but just not next to each other," he said. To prove his point, he picked up a garbage can and slammed it down onto the same frog using the glove pin. "See? If we work on both ends, we can blow these fuckers down!"

_"Dude! Language!"_ shouted his sword-wielding partner.

"Sorry." With their revelation in mind, the two made short work of the creatures through a combination of sword and pins. When the last frog was gone, the two friends were reunited and could see one another again.

"Okay," said Russ as he sheathed his sword. "That was weird." Taking a look at their hands, they saw that their battle had taken up roughly ten minutes, so the two were now down to around forty-five. Grabbing his partner's arm, he started dragging him as they ran. "C'mon," he said. "If we don't hurry and keep fighting those things, we'll never get to 104!"

Wrenching his arm free, Alex found himself less aggravated than usual about someone grabbing him. Dismissing it as nothing, he ran behind his friend as they crossed the city square. Turning onto the street with the 104 building on it, the duo wound up hitting an invisible barrier.

"No, no, no!" panicked Russ. "We don't have time for this!" he said as he felt along the wall. He looked at his palm and checked the count-down. "Alright, we've got less than 40 minutes. I'm sure that if we look..."

As he droned on, Alex noticed a guy in a black sweatshirt with a red bandana over his lower face chuckling at the two. Curious, he walked over to the man. "Hey, can you see us?" he asked.

"Of course I can," replied the man. "I just work this wall so often that seeing new players run into it every week has become a bit of a hobby." He took notice of Russ walking over in curiosity. "Oh, and I see you two have a pact. Well done." Extending his arm, he put a pin against the barrier and caused it to shimmer and shatter like glass. "The wall has been lowered."

When the boys checked this and looked back at him to thank him, he was gone. Wigged out but not focusing on it, the two walked towards the mall. Unfortunately for Alex, the area entered they mall in only had stores for two brands: Natural Puppy, and Sheep Heavenly. The two he hated more than any other.

It wasn't until they were almost to the center hall that they got distracted. That distraction came in the form of a small group of girls dressed entirely in S.H. brand clothes. They were squealing and giggling over their outfits and made him sick.

"Oh my god!" said one girl. "Don't you just _love_ Sheep Heavenly?" asked one girl.

"Who _doesn't_?" replied one of het friends. "I mean, we're so adorable, who wouldn't want to go out with us?" she giggled.

Alex ground his teeth as they kept talking about being hot. Gripping his skull pin so he had something to squeeze, he growled towards them. _Sheep Heavenly is horrible. Lapin Angelique is way better for girls._

The girls all seemed to stop their conversation and looked at each other and themselves in distaste. "Uh, like, am I the only one who thinks we look like freakin' lolis?"

Her friends shook their heads. "Why did we even dress like this?" asked one of them. "I outgrew this stuff like, ten years ago!"

The others all started agreeing with her. "Hey," said one of them, "I saw a Lapin Angelique on the other side of the mall. Wanna see if we can get better clothes there?" The idea went over well, and the whole group ran off to the other side of the building, leaving a confused set of teens.

"What just happened?"

"I don't know," said Alex. "I was holding my pin in anger and thought that Lapin Angelique was a better brand, and those girls all started hating Sheep Heavenly."

Russ looked at his Skull pin where it was clipped over his heart. "Huh. Something tells me there's a lot to these pins we don't know about." Taking another look at their palms, the two knew they had to get it over with, even with thirty minutes left.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: All About the Brands**

**Day 1 (cont.)**

After the minute walk to the center of the mall, the two felt a cool sensation on their palms. Looking at their right hands, the two realized that the timers were gone. Relieved that they had avoided Erasure, they noticed clapping as they sat down on a bench.

Standing up and looking around, they heard what sounded like a girl their age laughing. "Wow, here I thought you two were pretty intelligent, yet here you are, unable to find little old me." Finally locating the voice's owner, the two saw a girl around their age hanging from an overhead light with her legs around the fixture.

She was wearing a sleeveless black top that stopped a couple inches below her breasts and wore a matching pair of long gloves with finger holes. She also wore a short skirt that looked around four inches from her waist and did nothing to hide the exposed, thin body from her ribs to her waist. Because she was upside down, her short electric blue hair hung down while her sapphire blue eyes were filled with energy. The most startling feature was the pair of wings on her back which resembled tribal patterns.

Flipping off of her light fixture, she floated down to the ground as though her clothes were unaffected by the air. Her boots were now visible and matched her outfit. The boots were black leather and were covered in black straps around her calves. The knee-high boots had a small heel and made a very soft tap when she landed on the ground.

Straightening up, she gave them a skeptical look. "Um, what the hell are you two wearing? What Brands do you guys wear?"

The two shared a look before Alex looked at her. "Well, the only thing I have from one of the main brands are my boots." Pulling his jeans up, he showed his black leather boots. "My parents got me these. They're Tigre Punks."

She looked at Russ and he shrugged. "I don't really wear any brands," he said.

She shook her head while looking down. "*sigh* No wonder you guys aren't any fun. You barely have any experience in dressing to fit in." She put a hand to her chin in thought before lighting up with an excited gasp. "I've got it!" Reaching into her boot, she pulled out a black cell phone with the weird skull motif and started typing on it. When she was done typing, she smiled. "And, send!"

Putting her phone away, the two felt their phones going off. Taking them out, the boys raised eyebrows at the message. _Buy new outfits that belong to a single brand within 180 minutes or face Erasure._ The next part really through the two for a curveball. _3 Rosie the Reaper XOXOXO_. The two looked at her in confusion before their hands burned and started flashing down from 180:00. Looking at the counters, the boys couldn't help but wonder why she gave them three hours. "Catch!" she called. The two looked up to find a couple of wallets thrown at them by Rosie. They barely managed to get a grip on them before she flew up to the top of the giant clock in the center of the area. "You have three hours, and can use the money I just gave you. That should be enough for brand new threads, and you can keep the extra cash." She idly started kicking her feet back and forth, and waved her hand for them to go off. "Hurry, clock's ticking!"

Taking the Reaper's advice, the two walked off in search of stores. With Alex being the most educated on the topic of brands, Russ looked at his friend. "So, where are we going?" he asked.

Alex stopped and gave a quick look around, and saw a Mus Rattus store. Getting behind his friend he started pushing him along. "You," he said, "are going to get your threads from Mus Rattus. It's a brand that focuses on simple clothes."

Getting his partner into the store he started looking around for something suitable for his friend. Finally making a decision, he got his friend into the changing room with his choices. After a couple minutes, Russ walked out of the changing room in his new clothes.

Alex had grabbed a basic orange t-shirt, a pair of jeans, a white jacket with the brand's logo, and a pair of blue sneakers. "Well, how do I look?" asked Russ.

Alex gave his friend and partner a smirk. "Certainly a good call on my part. Getting fashion talks from my sister and dealing with my fashion-centric relatives really paid off." Turning on his heel, he led Russ to a register and gave the cashier the tag numbers of everything they picked out. Ringing everything up, Russ gave the guy the money for his clothing.

As they walked out, the duo found themselves before a group of creatures, those frogs as well as three birds like them. Russ drew out his sword as he vanished from Alex's sight and Alex got his pins ready. Running forward, Alex swung his lightning pin and blasted the monsters with bolts of electricity. As he readied his fire pin, a bird managed to rake his arm, yet his clothes didn't get torn for some reason. Gritting his teeth, he heard Russ scream in pain.

"Russ, you okay?" he called.

_"Yeah,"_ he replied. _"But it feels like something just scratched me!"_

Alex thought about it and blasted another two birds with fire. "Well, if we both damage the same creatures, then we probably take damage together when fighting," said Alex while elbowing a frog on the head. He saw one bird get slashed in half and another get thrown into a wall.

_"You know, you've got a point. It does make sense when you consider what we're dealing with."_ To agree, he grabbed the downed eagle threw it into the frogs with the weight of the creature crushing them out of existence.

Alex drew out his lightning pin and blasted the recovering creature as the other went face down and vanished. With all of the monsters gone, Russ reappeared and they shared a look. "So," said Alex. "We fight together and hurt together. Guess we really do need to work together."

Russ nodded and grinned. "Seems so."

They looked down at their palms, and Alex's smirk grew into a smile. "And now, for my part of the assignment." Taking a skip to start himself off, he started looking around for one store in particular. Soon enough he found what he wanted. "There it is, Tigre Punk! The brand which specializes in the punk rocker style." Running off, he was grinning like a nut.

When Russ finally caught up, he found Alex holding a top in his hand, as well as a pair of black jeans with chains strung along the belt loops and pockets. In the other, he held a pin, a can with a red lid, and a pair of gloves. "Hey man, I got my stuff and made sure I can afford this all. Here," he tossed Russ a bundle of bills. "Pay at the register for me while I change."

Getting into the changing room, he un-pinned his skull pin and made sure to remove his other pins and phone. Swapping shirts, he got into his new black shirt with a red slash mark design across the chest. Picking up his new jacket, he put it on and looked at himself in the mirror. It was a sleeveless black jean jacket with a puffed up collar. Taking his skull pin, he attached it to the right side of his collar next to the zipper. His new jeans had a series of chains connecting his pockets to his belt loops. Putting on the boots he already had, he slid the phone into his jeans and put on fingerless cloth gloves he grabbed. He then clipped his four pins to the left side of the inside of the jacket jacket as well as the new pin he got, which depicted a firing range target and was named "Go 2 Hell". He was very grateful that he had gotten a jacket that could hold his pins.

Uncapping the can, he shook it up and placed his old sweatshirt over his new clothes. He started spraying the red hair dye over his brown hair and gave himself blood red hair. Putting the can in the trash, he walked out as a true icon of Tigre Punk. He could tell the clerk liked the look because she gave him an approving nod.

"Lookin' good Player. But," she said as she went under the counter and came up with a guitar pick necklace. On each side was the Tigre Punk logo. "Take this," she said. Not questioning an actual expert on the brand, Alex put on the necklace. "There, trust me. The more of a Brand you wear, the better the pins of that Brand do. Good luck, and remember what I said about the Game."

He waved back as they left the store. "Will do!" Once they were outside, Russ gave him a curious look. Sighing, he began an explanation. "Alright, I'll explain. Apparently, we're dead."

"What?!"

"Yeah. And we are currently in a game where we have to fight those creatures, the Noise, and survive the week by doing missions for the Reapers. At the end of the week, if we're still 'alive' and don't get erased, we get to either go back to life as though nothing had killed us or become Reapers ourselves."

"Exactly!" cried the blue haired Reaper from her clock. She flapped her wings and flew over to them. "That's how these games work," she said. "You do missions, and us Reapers try to trip you up and get you Erased. Then on Day Seven, it's a free-for-all and Reapers can directly attack Players and not need to do so through our Noise."

The two immediately backed away from the hyperactive lady Reaper. She looked at them as they backed away and noticed their clothes, especially Alex's clothes. "Oh. My. God! You guys look awesome! Especially you, Mr. Tigre Punk." She even went so far as to do a little cat paw wave at him. "Yup, you guys definitely completed your mission." Pulling out her phone, she pushed a button and the boys' timers vanish.

She gave the two a playful smile as she pulled out a pin. Flying up, she activated her pin and summoned a large wolf-like Noise. "Unfortunately, I still have to test you guys combat-wise. So, good luck~!" Spreading her wings, she became surrounded by black designs and faded away in the storm of black tribal graffiti. The two braced themselves as the wolf growled at them. As usual, they faded away into different planes to fight the massive Noise.

Smirking, Alex pulled out his Go 2 Hell pin. Activating it, he charged through the creature with a spear of light and made the wolf stagger. As he flew by, he used his legs to launch himself off the clock pole and back through the large Noise. As it recovered from his attacks, he saw it get struck by Russ and his sword, but then heard a livid curse from his Game Partner followed by feeling an extreme pain in his stomach area. "Russ, what's wrong?"

Dodging a swipe from the Noise, he heard his friend call back. _"My sword got hit away and I took damage. And I don't know how much more I can take."_ Alex remembered what the clerk at the store mentioned. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the soda can pin. Activating it, he and Russ felt their wounds vanishing and felt reenergized. _"Aw yeah,"_ said Russ. _"I don't know what you just did, but I feel way better!"_

"No prob!" replied Alex. He pulled out his Psychokinesis pin and lifted up a bench, then promptly threw it on top of the Noise's head. Grabbing his lightning pin, he zapped it while Russ took the final blow.

With the Noise Erased, the Duo was reunited. As they cheered, the two were struck by waves of dizzying exhaustion. Staggering, the two collapsed to the ground and blacked out.

-Elsewhere-

Rosie sat on the edge of the roof to a nearby store, closing her phone after hitting the boys' snooze button. As she placed the phone back into her boot, she was aware of a familiar presence behind her and soft foot steps. Without looking back, she smirked. "Hey Boss, what's up?"

His soft voice responded to her. "I'm doing well, Rosie. How about the boy we brought here? Is he doing alright?"

She giggled as she stared at the unconscious teens as they vanished. "He's doing well for his first day. Definitely a smart choice on your part, Boss."

A chuckle left the boy's lips. "Of course it was. I made sure about my decision before I brought him here." His lips curved up in a smile. "As the Composer, I make sure everything is planned out. I took the time to plan this whole ordeal out from the very beginning. Everything had been taken into account. Him coming here, his friend being here, everything happening is planned out."

Rosie couldn't help but roll her eyes in amusement while a pair of thin, jean clad legs sat down next to her. "I hope you planned everything out like you said, Boss. Cuz the last thing we need is a kid like him on our bad side."

She got another chuckle in response. "Don't worry, Game Master. Everything will be fine."

**Day 1: Completed**

**So! Is it me, or does a certain 'somewhat omniscient' (he says that in KH3D) being have a master plan? What could it be? And what's Rosie's agenda in all of this? Stay tuned, and find out.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer! This chapter contains a reference to another video game! Seriously though, there is a huge and blatantly obvious cameo in this chapter. Also they are meant to be somewhat OOC due to the nature of The World Ends With You.**

**Chapter 3: Meeting a Second Team**

**Day 2**

When the friends came to, they found themselves in a lush green park. "Where are we?" asked Alex. "Weren't we in a mall? How'd we get to this park?"

Russ stood up and brushed off the clothes Alex had chosen for him. "No idea," he said as he held his sheathed sword. "But considering our circumstances, anything could be responsible for us getting here."

When Alex stood and smoothed out his clothes, he felt his phone go off and took it out. Unlocking the touch screen, he opened the message. _Purge fountain square of its lurkers within 60 minutes or face Erasure. _After reading their mission, the two felt the somewhat familiar sensation of the timers getting burned into their hands.

Alex sighed as they put the phones away. "Well," he said. "Let's get going." Getting an affirmative nod, they set off into the park to try and locate the fountain mentioned in the mission.

Walking on the paved path, Russ suddenly stopped. "Alex, wait. Something's off," he said. He gripped the pin on his white jacket. As he looked around, he gasped. "Alex, I think you need to look around."

Following suit Alex scanned the area like the Tigre Punk clerk told him. His eyes widened as the area took on a dark blue coloring. All around them were red tattoo marks. On trees, the ground, on benches; those symbols were all around them. As the stared at the icons, the symbols all started shaking and glowing. Eyes widening at what was happening, Alex grabbed Russ by the arm.

"Russ, we gotta go. Now!" He dragged his friend away, but they were quickly surrounded by the Noise that came out of the marks. The two got back-to-back before they faded onto different zones.

Alex rushed towards a large boar with his Go 2 Hell pin. Charging through it, he launched off the tree behind it for a second strike on it as well as an eagle across from it. Using the trees, benches, and garbage bins in the immediate area, he made use of the ricochet effect his new pin had. _Note to self: thank the clerk lady for suggesting this pin._

When his momentum ran out and his pin needed to recharge, he landed on the ground, watching as some of the Noise vanished, then saw a few more get slashed up by an unseen force. But there were still so many around them.

_"Alex, there are too many Noise!"_ shouted Russ from his zone._ "Sorry to say this, but I think this is where we go down!"_

Alex growled and let a storm of lightning bolts and fire loose on a trio of eagles. "If we go down, then it's gonna be while we're still swinging!" Lifting up a bench with his Psychokinesis, he slammed it into five frogs and gasped as he felt the pin surging with energy. Looking at the pin, he couldn't help but notice that it felt stronger.

Gripping it in his hand, he was shocked when he uprooted a tree and crushed an eagle with it. He started smirking like a sadistic maniac. "Aw yeah, bitches! Now we're talkin'!" Redrawing his fire pin, he blasted another boar in the face.

He was doing well, until he felt a sharp pain in his chest followed by a series of blows to his arm. Screaming in agony, he collapsed as the Noise started closing in. His arm in pain, Alex couldn't get to his Cure Drink pin. The boy was surrounded, and he knew Russ was in the same situation. As he sat there crippled, he closed his eyes waiting for the inevitable.

That doom never came though. Instead, he heard a voice. "Hey! You get away from them!" Looking up, he saw a blonde haired boy jumping in with a pin in hand. Swinging his arm, an arc of white light went through some of the Noise and erased them. He heard gun shots and saw more of the creatures vanishing.

_"Yeah that's right, you rejects!" _shouted a girl's voice. _"You're all dead now, you S.O.B.s!"_

When the Noise were all defeated by the newcomers, the players from the second zone appeared. Much like the boy, the girl had blonde hair. Her hair was down past her shoulders, and his above his shoulders. The boy was wearing blue jeans and a baggy green shirt with a matching beanie hat and white sneakers. The girl had a short baby blue skirt, a light pink top with no sleeves, and a pair of white sneakers. Their skull pins were on the boy's hats, and the belt on the girl's skirt.

As the blonde duo shared high-fives, Alex activated his soda pin while Russ followed suit with his own pin. The two sighed as they felt their wounds heal and vanish.

Celebrations done, the newcomers looked over at the friends. "Hey," said the boy. "You guys alright?"

Russ nodded. "Yeah. Thanks a lot you guys. I'm Russ, and this is Alex," he said while motioning to his recently red-haired friend.

The blonde boy smirked. "Name's Link, the bravery of our team."

The girl gave them a sweet-ish smile. "And I'm Link's girlfriend, Zelda. I suppose you could say I'm our team's wisdom." She walked over to them. "So, are you guys really alright?"

Alex gave a nod. "Yeah, thanks to you guys. If you two were a minute late, we'd have been Erased for sure."

Zelda's smile brightened. "That's great! Glad to be helpful." She then looked curious. "Hey if you don't mind me asking, what were your entrance fees?"

The duo were confused and showed that obviously. "Entrance fee?" asked Alex.

Link stepped forward and wrapped an arm around his girlfriend to keep her from bouncing. "Yeah, each player gives up what's most important to them in order to participate in the Games." He gestured to the bubbly blonde girl. "Zel here lost her seriousness and control over her emotions. I on the other hand lost my silent disposition."

Zelda giggled as she wrapped her arms around her boyfriend's waist. "Yup! And now he's a hundred times more expressive and speaks his mind! He's a lot more fun this way because now he makes plenty of moves."

The green clad boy flushed at her statement. Coughing to get back on topic, he looked at Alex and Russ. "So, do you guys have any idea what your Entrance Fees were?"

Alex put a hand to his chin in thought while Russ scratched his head. "Not really," said Alex. "I don't feel any different, aside from feeling more lighthearted than usual and wanting to know how my parents are doing." He then noticed Russ giving him a disbelieving look. "What?" he asked.

Russ stared into his eyes. "Why would you wonder that?" he asked. "You hate your mother and step-father. So then why..." His eyes widened in realization of his friend's fee. "Dude! You lost your hatred for your parents!"

**Author's Note: And, SCENE! A little on the short side, but remember, I'm splitting each Day up into two chapters so they don't seem too long.**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Dealing With Fees and Noise

"What?!" shouted Alex, his eyes wide at what his friend said.

"Think about it," said Russ. "You only worry about your biological father. You wouldn't be caught dead thinking about those two in genuine care! Plus, your entire personality and inner rage was shaped by how much you hated them. So of course you feel happier!"

Alex thought it over, and realized how right his partner was."You're right," he said. "But if I lost my hatred, what about you?"

"I don't know."

Zelda giggled. "Well whatever it was, I'm sure you'll do fine without it!" She bounced over to her boyfriend and wrapped her arms around him. "Look at Link, here. He used to be all silent and drawn back, but now he's much more expressive and nothing stops him from laying down the moves on me."

The boy blushed as his girlfriend hugged him tighter. He coughed to try and steer the conversation in another direction. "So, would you guys like to work together? Something tells me it'd be easier on all of us if the four of us fought together."

The friends nodded. "Sure," said Alex, "I mean, you guys did save our lives. Plus, there's about 40 minutes left, and we need to clear out the fountain square."

"Then let's go!" cheered Zelda. "Let's go erase some Noise!" Grabbing Russ and Alex's hands, she started running deeper into the park with Link following behind. After a couple minutes of the blonde girl's running, they found themselves at a large fountain surrounded by moping people.

Alex scanned their thoughts and they were all thinking about how the fountain was making them miserable. There were several Noise Tattoos around, but he felt like he was missing something.

"Oh my god!" shouted Zelda. The teens looked over to her and saw she was backing away from the fountain. "You guys, there's a Noise in the fountain!"

Sure enough, a large blue graffiti shark fin rose out of the water before sinking down. The creature then leapt out of the fountain and into the regular ground. As it began circling the four players, the other Noise Tattoos glowed and spawned into wolves and frogs. Getting ready, Alex found himself fighting with Zelda while Russ must have had Link.

The boy went back-to-back with her as she prepped a couple of pins by clipping them to her belt. Raising her hands, she launched a barrage of Force Bullets at the Noise around them. Not one to be shown up, Alex swiped his arm and released a series of lightning bolts on the same Noise, causing them to fade into static. He could hear Russ and Link cutting down their Noise. This tag-team method worked quite effectively and in ten minutes, the shark Noise was left.

It had attacked them several times while they were clearing the weaker Noise, but they had yet to hit the shark. As it charged again, Alex suddenly felt a rush of energy in his fire pin and could feel Russ' power rising. Alex smirked. "Let's do this!"

"It's over now, you rejects!" shouted Russ. In the second plane, Russ' sword glowed bright as he slammed the point down and sent out a blast of light. Alex pulled out his fire pin and brought it to the ground with his fist. The two planes overlapped for a moment as the wave of light fused with the vortex of fire and dealt serious damage to the Noise.

When the maelstrom died down, the Noise was almost dead. Taking the initiative, the blonde duo used their pins to finish off the shark. When it was finally erased and the other two players materialized, a small pin clinked down where the lurking Noise had been. Alex walked over and saw it had a rabbit head icon with an X-design under it and two lace semi-circles under it. Not thinking much of it, he clipped his new pin inside his jacket while their timers all vanished.

Zelda and Link walked up to the friends. "Well, I'd say this was a pretty successful team-up."

Alex nodded while Russ gave the blondes a friendly smile. "Yeah, you guys were a ton of help. Maybe we'll meet again."

"Probably not," chimed a voice the two boys knew all too well. Looking at the fountain, they saw Rosie sitting on the fountain. "Hey there, you two."

Alex and Russ immediately went on guard at the sight of the female reaper. "What are you doing here, Rosie?" demanded Alex. "We took care of that Noise, so what do you want?"

She rolled her eyes and sighed. "C'mon, can't a girl visit her two favorite players when she's bored?"

Link and his partner looked back and forth between the players and the blue haired girl. "Who's this?" asked the green-clad boy.

"This is Rosie," said Alex. "She's a Reaper that's taken an interest in us."

"That's right, Tiger. You know me so well," said the girl as she hung upside down on the fountain. "You guys did so well, I'm starting to regret letting the four of you meet up."

"What do you mean?" asked Zelda. She and Link stared at the lady Reaper cautiously while she front flipped herself off the fountain. "How did you get us together?"

The Reaper laughed as she gave the players an amused look. "You see, I'm not just a Reaper. I'm also this week's Game Master." She gave them a sickly sweet smile with her tongue peaking out from between her teeth. "That means, I have the final say on all missions if I feel like it."

The teens looked at her in shock. None of them could have imagined the amount of power this teenaged girl held. She smiled at them as she unclipped a bag on her belt. "You all did so well, that I feel each of you deserves a reward." Opening it up, she chucked a couple of pins to the children. Each of them caught one pin, and Alex took a look at his. It looked like a yellow-orange drawing of a graffiti tiger head. He saw a similar design when he looked at the catalog back at the store. If he was right, it was called Velocity Attack.

"I hope you like the new pins, cuz they really cost me a lot of yen," remarked the girl as she walked towards them.

Alex met her gaze. "But what do you want Rosie?" He put his pin inside his jacket as he kept eye contact. She only got closer. "What are you up to?"

Unbeknownst to him, she slipped her cell phone out of her boot when she got right up to him. "Let's just say, the Boss and I have taken a special interest in you." As he went to comment, she pressed the button on her phone that made the four players collapse. Giggling as Alex lay there, she bent over and planted a kiss on his forehead. "Don't worry Tiger. I promise it'll be over soon, then everything will be just perfect for us all."

"Even when he's asleep, you shouldn't divulge parts of our plan, Rosaline," remarked that familiar male voice. Smirking, she took a look at the Composer. He was wearing his usual loose grey shirt and black jeans. His wavy blonde hair was at its usual shoulder length. "We both have a lot to lose if our plans are figured out before they come to fruition. So please refrain from saying things like that aloud."

She sighed in exasperation. "Don't sweat it Boss. I'm a lot more careful around him when he's awake and can actually hear me." She stared at the unconscious Tigre Punk child again. "Besides, didn't you say he won't care after everything is done? I don't see the problem."

The Composer sighed as he dialed into his phone to dismiss the teenagers until the next morning. "That may be, Rosaline. But still, we should be careful until the end of the next week when our plans are complete. Understand?

"  
She sighed in aggravation as she stood back up. "Yes, Joshua," she groaned.

The blond boy simply chuckled at her tone. "You know Rosaline, you are by far one of my most interesting Game Masters I've ever met."

**Day 2: Completed**

Author's Note: And the plot thickens! Joshua is finally identified by name. Their plan is further revealed, and it only raises more questions. Also, don't worry about a thing, I'm keeping up with my research and hopefully will get a copy of the game soon.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: Alright, when I said Joshua would be the only member of the original cast, I lied. That being said, it took a lot of research to pull this one off. Also, please note that Sho is in his pre-taboo body and that there will later be an explanation. To ease your curiosity right now, Joshua brought Sho back with a few "modifications" (i.e.- He doesn't want to kill Josh and isn't part taboo.) Also, I'd appreciate it if you guys started leaving reviews on my more recent stories so I know if I'm doing well without having to look at my traffic stats on my phone after it takes five minutes to load.**

Chapter 5: The Reapers Come Out to Play

(Day 3: Begin)

When Alex and Russ woke up the next day, they found themselves in a train station. Growling in frustration, Alex grabbed a soda can on the ground and chucked it at a painting of that skull decal on the wall. "What the hell?!" he yelled. "Why can't we stay in one place?!"

Russ looked at his friend in shock. This was the angriest he'd been since they first showed up. "Dude, calm down. It's no big deal. You gotta remember what we're dealing with."

"He's right you know," came a girl's voice. The two looked across the tracks at the other platform. There they saw two more people close to their age. The first was a girl with short pink hair. She had a black turtleneck that covered her arms and hands as well as a pair of black shorts. A white corset covered her stomach.

The other was a guy with a sleeveless black sweatshirt. His hoodie was stylized with a skeleton's rib cage on it. His orange hair was blown back and several shades darker than his sunglasses. His jeans were like a grayish red and hung close to his thin legs. A lollipop hung out of his mouth. What really identified the two people was the fact that they each had a pair of black tattoo wings.

Alex felt his anger again, but it still wasn't as strong as it used to be. "Reapers! What do you want?"

The girl blew a low whistle. "Wow, no wonder the Game Master and Boss have taken such an interest in you."

The guy chuckled. "Yeah. They sure are amusing to hang out around." He pulled his lollipop out of his mouth and looked at them over the rims of his glasses. "I'm Koki Kariya. And for the record, this is bean paste," he said as he held up his lollipop.

The female reaper put a hand on her hip and sneered at them. "And I'm Uzuki Yashiro."

Russ gave them cautious look and gripped the handle of his sword just in case. "Well, what is it you two want?"

"We were told so much about you guys and wanted know to what the fuss was about," replied Kariya. "To be honest, the only thing fascinating thing about you two is how much Red here has in common with that kid Neku."

Before the boys could remark, their phones went off. As the two Reapers smirked, the duo pulled out their phones. _Clear the rails of their travelers within 120 minutes or face Erasure._ Sighing, Alex jumped onto the rail tracks as Russ climbed down.

"Have fun, you two!" called Kariya.

Uzuki called after them as well. "Look out for the Noise!"

The two kept walking and ignored the laughing duo of Reapers. As they walked along, they left the station and now were walking on the track-bearing bridge. After a couple more minutes, they saw a series of grey wolves with blue tattoo legs running past them in both directions.

The two knew those were some of their targets, so Russ drew his sword while Alex readied his pins and blasted one off the tracks with fire. That one attack got all of the wolves' attentions. They all turned to the two boys as they were split up.

Alex ran forward and activated his Velocity Attack. As he ran past the wolves, he slashed them by dashing past them. Skidding to a stop, he activated his rabbit pin and was rewarded when a series of force rounds was launched at the charging wolves. As he launched barrages that alternated between bullets, fire, and lightning, he thought he saw someone watching him. But when he looked, nobody was there. Ignoring it, he returned to decimating the wolves on his plane.

Enemies gone, Russ rematerialized and the two high-fived. "Aw c'mon, that was so zetta slow, you yoctograms!"

Looking around, Russ found their audience and tapped Alex's shoulder. "He's up there." He pointed to a nearby light post.

Standing there was a guy close to their age. He had on a black military like hat and a long black shirt with military style buttons. His pants were grey and covered in tears. His black boots looked a lot like Alex's. The stranger's golden eyes were framed by his almost brown-almost grey hair. His left hand looked as though they had been painted black. "That's right, behold the glory of Sho Minamimoto, the most zetta awesome reaper ever!"

The boys were cautious even though they knew Sho wasn't actually allowed to attack them. "What do you want?" asked Russ as he gripped his sword.

"Aw lighten up, you sons of digits. I came by cuz I wanted to check out who the newest factoring pascals are," said Sho as he jumped down onto the tracks. Landing, he leered at them. "And I gotta say, you two ain't much to look at."

"Alright, listen you-WOAH!" Alex's potential rant was cut off when a shark fin flew by followed by more wolves. Growling, he gave the new Reaper a glare and walked up to him. "This isn't over. You're just lucky we have work to do."

With that, the Player team ran after the fleeing Noise to further complete their mission. Sho just laughed as another Reaper teleported in behind him. "Well Sho, what did you think of them?"

Smirking, he turned around to see the Game Master herself. "Their alright. Not on the level of pure zetta awesome like me, but they're certainly alright." His smirk turned into a grin. "I get why you and the boss are interested in that red guy. He's capable of such anger even when we took away the base of it all."

Rosie laughed. "That's _why_ he's so interesting, Sho."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: Exploring Shibuya**

**Author's Note: In my mind this is long overdue. I've been having Rosie knock them out after their missions and it feels stale, so this is them finally becoming familiar with the city. Enjoy!**

After finally killing the shark and its wolves, the two were rewarded by having their timers removed. Much to their surprise, they didn't pass out. So, they walked back the way they came. Reaching the station, they climbed off the tracks. Getting out onto the crowded streets, Russ looked at his friend.

"So, what do we do now?" He looked around at the crowded streets.

Alex shrugged. "Well, I guess we go out and explore." Checking his wallet, he was shocked when he found a ridiculous amount of money in it. He was about to question it when he remembered what the clerk told him about killing Noise earning you Yen. Smirking, he pocketed the wallet as he and Russ started wandering.

As they walked, they saw and learned all sorts of things. Careful listening and scans revealed their location to be Shibuya, which explained all the stores and why it looked so familiar to the multicultural Americans. They even passed a Ramen shop, which Alex made sure they stopped at and went so far as to mark it on his phone's map for a later date.(**Author's Note: We all know which Ramen Shop this is.)**

After an amazing lunch of beef Ramen, they continued exploring the various stores and alleys of Shibuya. What really stunned the two was the complete lack of Noise in the area. There were a couple here and there, but they were frogs and were easily dispatched.

Soon enough, their wanderings brought them to a strange cafe. The sign read: **Wild Kat**. Taking note of the "Open" sign with the small skull design on it, they pushed open the door and heard the light jingle of the bell.

Walking in, they found the restaurant to be almost completely empty. The only people there were a thin boy with long blonde hair, and the guy behind the counter in a white short sleeve button up with a black vest over it and spiked black hair. At the jingle of the bells, they both looked over and smirked when they saw the two players.

"Well," said the man. "It looks like a couple of players have found my cafe."

"It would certainly look like that, especially with those pins," added the boy.

Alex looked at them cautiously. "If you can see us, does that mean you're Reapers?"

The man laughed. "Nope. I run this restaurant, so I have to see you guys since the mark is on my door."

The boy turned in his seat. "And I once participated in the games, and since I too am in this cafe, so you two are quite visible to me." He stood up and walked over to them, then held out his hand. "My name is Joshua."

The man waved from his counter. "And I'm Sanae Hanekoma, but you can just call me Mr. H." He patted the counter next to where Joshua's coffee sat on the counter. "Why don't you two come on over and get some coffee?"

The two sat down but Russ gave them a look. "Thanks, but we don't drink coffee."

Joshua chuckled. "You clearly haven't tried Hanekoma's coffee. It's a great start if you two aren't into the stuff."

"That it is, Josh," commented Sanae as he set down two cups. "Here's a great start. French vanilla roast, black. Enjoy!"

The boys picked up their cups and hesitantly, they each took a sip. Their eyes widened as their taste buds came to life. Mr. H saw their reactions and smirked as they each drank some more. Lowering his cup, Alex smiled at the cafe owner. "Wow, that was amazing. Thanks Mr. H."

"Don't sweat it kid. Besides, this one's on the house." He leaned against the counter. "So, you two are some of the latest batch of players, huh?"

Russ nodded. "Yeah. Neither of us knows how we died. All we know is that we're here and have to win and get home."

Joshua stared at them curiously. Russ was getting into talking about their lives, but Alex was trying to busy himself with his coffee, almost as if he were depressed. Tapping the boy on the shoulder, he got a confused look. "What's wrong, Alex?" asked the boy. "You seem out of it."

Alex sighed. "Yeah. You see, my Entry Fee was the ingrained hatred I hold towards some family members of mine, and I suddenly find myself _wanting_ to see them." He took a long sip to finish his coffee before sliding it towards Hanekoma's side of the counter. "It's all so confusing, trying to be myself without something that defined my whole personality."

"Well, you'd better find a new most valuable thing just in case," said the ash-blonde. Getting a look, he continued. "My Game Partner had to play the Game three weeks in a row. Each week, it was a new fee, but he had to endure three weeks here, because they can just send one of you if they feel like it."

Alex's eyes widened. "What?!" The idea that one of them would be stranded in the UG for another week was terrifying. "They can't do that, can they?"

Joshua sighed. "Unfortunately, the Composer and his Conductor can do whatever they want. They make the rules around here."

Alex sat there, stunned at what the former Player had told him. As he sat there, his phone started ringing. Taking it out, he groaned when he and Russ found they had another mission. "Well, we gotta go," said Alex. "See ya."

He and Russ waved to the barista and teenager as they left the cafe. The two watched as the team ran off on their mission. After a few moments, Hanekoma started chuckling. "Really, Josh?" He raised an eyebrow at the young Composer. "Did you seriously tell him that story about Neku only without you being the one responsible?"

Joshua shook his head. "I'll admit, in hindsight, I probably went a little overboard with the whole thing."

"I'd say more than a little," remarked the barista. His playful smirk went serious. "So, that was him?"

"Yes, Sanae," answered the blonde. "That was the child I plan to take into my ranks. I have looked into him, and he's the perfect candidate to become one of my officers. I have it all planned out, and I am confident in it all falling into place."

"I really hope you know what you're doing, Josh. I really do."

**Author's Note: So there you go. From my understanding of him and how others portray him, Sanae acts like a sort of father figure/best bud to Joshua, especially since he and Josh are both angels.**

**Joshua: Why am I such a scheming sneak?**

**Rosie: And why did I barely show up this time?!**

**Me: Josh, did you even **_**read**_** the script for week one that I gave you? And Rosie, don't you think the others deserve their own time to show up?**

**Sho: Yeah, Rose! Quit being such a zetta slow camera hog!**

**Me: -pauses- Wait, how did you people even get in here?!**

**Hanekoma: You do realize we're all Ground-jumping Reapers and Angels, right? Are you really asking that?**

**Sho: And you've been hanging out with the door open. So of course we decided to bug you, you factoring Pascal!**

**Me: Shut up Sho, you yoctogram! As with any author, please read and review!**

**Rosie: And please support me and Tiger getting together!**

**Me: I told you, Rosie, just wait until Alex's second week!**

**Rosie: No!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: Okay, this marks the start of condensing the Days to one chapter. I just felt two chapters helped with some development and stuff. I might break up Days during Week Two, but when I do, it won't be a constant.**

**Rosie: Do I appear in this chapter?**

**Me: Yes, you do. I don't know why you're asking me, though. Seriously, don't you people read the script?**

**Rosie: I may have...skimmed...just a tad.**

**Me: I'm beginning to doubt your commitment to this project.**

**(Day 4)**

Alex blew out a heavy breath as he and Russ finished clearing out the nearby Noise. Sharing a high-five, the two walked over to the Reaper wearing a red sweatshirt. Taking a final scan around, he turned to the Reaper.

"Alright," he said. "The Noise have all been Erased. Can you lower the Wall _now?_"

The Reaper chuckled at the attitude he was receiving from the Player. "Very well, I suppose you two have earned it." He placed his hand to the Wall and caused it to shatter. "The Wall has been lowered. Good luck, you two."

"Yeah, whatever." As the two walked into Molco for their mission, Russ gave his Game Partner a concerned look.

"Alex, are you alright?" he asked. "I mean, should it even be possible for you to even be angry? I thought they took away your anger."

Alex rolled his eyes. "They took away my hatred for my parents, not my ability to feel anger." He shook his head. "The anger I feel is not as strong as before this all started. But it's getting stronger. It feels as though all that's gone is just the dislike for the immediate family that I lived with back in the RG."

Looking around, he spotted their target: the main D+B store. Sliding his phone out, he checked the message again. _Head to the D+B store in Molco and buy a Pin there within 60 minutes. Failure will result in Erasure._

With the Noise that seemed to be following the two of them like moths to candles, they were now at 30 minutes. "Seriously," asked Alex, "why did Rosie give us such an easy mission?"

"Hell if I know," replied Russ. "I'm just not going to look the gift horse in the mouth."

Heading in the store, Russ was shocked at the amount and style of clothing there. "Hey Alex, what type of clothes does D+B sell?"

"Fashionable and sexy threads. They're the 'out to the club' brand," said the punk rocker. "D+B is a brand I'm not a huge fan of, but I don't have anything against it." He started walking through the aisles towards the Pin display. "The only thing I don't like is the excessive sequins and flashiness. It's not like my dislike of SH or NP, those two are excessively colored and SH is all cutesy."

"Fair enough," said the girl behind the counter. "At least you like Tigre Punks. They're more fitting for teens than those two." She looked Russ up and down. "Although, I can't say the same for Mus Rattus. They're a bit plain for my taste."

Alex scratched his head sheepishly. "Well, that's my doing," he said. "We needed to find outfits from a single brand, and I figured Mus Rattus would be the brand best suited for him."

The girl looked the sword-wielding player over with a speculative eye. "Yup, I can see it." She leaned forward and rested her arms on the counter. "So, how can I help you two?"

Alex looked at the Pins on display. "We've been tasked with purchasing a D+B pin. It's possible that there will be a second part of our mission, so we will need something useful." He looked at her inquisitively. "Any ideas?"

She looked them over before going under the counter and pulling out two pins. They both had the same design: a black line covered in blue dots with a spike in the middle. Above the spike was sparkly purple and below it was white. "This pin is called Ice Blow, it uses the Piercing Pillar Psyche. Basically, it creates a sharp spike of ice under your target."

"Wow," said Russ. "That sounds pretty sweet."

"Yeah," agreed Alex. He and Russ both grabbed one of the pins. "How much will this cost?"

She led the Players over to the register and started typing away on it. "For the two of them with today's sale that'll be ¥1500." Alex reached into his wallet and pulled out the right number of bills and handed it over to her.

As he did, they heard a familiar voice from behind them. "Hey you two!" Turning, the duo found themselves facing the electric blue-haired Game Master. Smiling, she threw herself onto Alex and gave him a hug. "How ya doing, Tiger? I missed you!"

Getting a hug from the lady Reaper was a shock for Alex. If it weren't for the fact that she was GM and he was at her mercy as a Player, she would have returned the hug. _Well, getting hugged by a hot chick is by no means a bad thing._ That made him stop. _Wait, where did that come from?_ Despite the thoughts racing through his mind, he looked at the girl nervously. "Hey Rosie. We're doing alright."

She grinned at him. "Awesome! So I take it you two were finishing up the mission?"

"Finishing up?" Alex and Russ shared a confused look as the red-head pushed her off of him. "You mean that's it?!"

"Yup!" She giggled as they groaned and Alex face palmed. "You see, D+B is one of my favorite Brands," she explained. "So I wanted you guys to grab some pins from them!"

She raised up a hand as Russ went to comment. "And before you say anything about it, need I remind you that I am the Game Master and make all of the missions? Not to mention you both happen to be at my mercy because of that." She smiled again, and the two were even more cautious about her. "Besides, the Game is gonna be getting pretty tough over the next three days, so I want you two prepared for what's to come."

Alex looked Rosie in the eyes. "What are you talking about Rosie? Why are you being so nice and acting so concerned for us?"

Rosie smiled even more, if that was possible for the GM. "Because, I've got my eyes on you Tiger. And I want to see you at the end of it all." She pulled out her cell phone and gave them a sickly sweet smile as she pressed her favorite button.

While the two collapsed, Rosie grabbed Alex and held the unconscious boy up. Looking at him, she smiled and placed a light kiss on his lips. She stared at him lovingly as he laid there in her arms. "I promise Tiger, it won't be long until you're mine. Then, we won't have to do this."

**(Day 4: Complete)**

**Author's Note: Yeah, I know. Not my best, but I still feel okay with this. From here on, the game will worsen for our protagonists.**

**Rosie: And I get to be with Alex even sooner!**

**Me: Rosie, you've got serious issues, you know that? Only you would be as obsessed over a guy as Sho is with Math.**

**Sho: I heard that, you Fractal!**

**Me: Sho! Get out of here! It's bad enough Rosie and Joshua like bothering me, I don't need you giving me a headache too. You're messing with my focus and I might consider taking you out of the story.**

**Sho: Your story is garbage!**

**Mr. H: Sho, don't be rude to the Author.**


End file.
